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STORY: SOMALIA / CHILDREN HOSPITAL HUNGER
TRT: 2:30
SOURCE: UNSOM
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /SOMALI /NATS
DATELINE: 9 MARCH 2017 MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
1. Wide shot, Banaadir hospital
2. Med shot, doctors inserting a drip line in the arm of a child
3. Close up, drip line
4. Wide shot, women with children in waiting room
5. Close up, child crying
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Luul Mohamud Mohamed, head of pediatric department, Banaadir hospital:
“In most cases the cause of death is dehydration. We are doing rehydration of the child and we give also antibiotics as well because we suspect watery diarrhoea and cholera. This is what we are doing so far.”
7. Med shot, nurse walking with a sick elderly
8. Med shot, sick women on the floor
9. Various shots, mother feeding a baby through a tube inserted in the nose
10. Wide shot, Abukar with her grandchild
11. Med shot, Abukar with her grandchild
12. SOUNDBITE: (Somali) Jeeleey Abukar, grandmother:
“Thanks to God, since we got here, his situation is improving and slowly getting better. He was put on a drip and is also receiving medication”.
13. Various shots, doctor checking a baby
14. Wide shot, mothers with babies in beds
15. Med shot, mothers with babies
16. Various shots, doctor checking children
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Luul Mohamud Mohamed, head of pediatric department, Banaadir hospital:
“The support is coming late and these drought-affected populations already have diarrhoea, they have malnutrition and are already losing lives. What we need is if you are doing the support, it’s better to have early support.”
18. Various shots, food distribution
Forty-seven children have died from hunger-related ailments in Banaadir Hospital in the Somali capital over the last two months
At least 1,200 children were treated for severe malnutrition at the medical facility in the same period.
The water sources have dried up due to the prolonged drought in Somalia, forcing thousands to drink contaminated water as living conditions deteriorate.
A visit to the pediatric wing of Banaadir hospital revealed overcrowded wards with critically ill children clinging to life, as their parents wait for any medical intervention.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Luul Mohamud Mohamed, head of pediatric department, Banaadir hospital:
“In most cases the cause of death is dehydration. We are doing rehydration of the child and we give also antibiotics as well because we suspect watery diarrhoea and cholera. This is what we are doing so far.”
The large number of critically malnourished children being admitted to the 200-bed government-run hospital is overwhelming.
SOUNDBITE: (Somali) Jeeleey Abukar, grandmother:
“Thanks to God, since we got here, his situation is improving and slowly getting better. He was put on a drip and is also receiving medication”.
The hospital receives patients from as far away as Somalia’s Bakool region -- which is more than 350 kilometres from Mogadishu -- Lower Shabelle region, and from internally displaced persons’ camps around the capital.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr. Luul Mohamud Mohamed, head of pediatric department, Banaadir hospital:
“The support is coming late and these drought-affected populations already have diarrhoea, they have malnutrition and are already losing lives. What we need is if you are doing the support, it’s better to have early support.”
Across the city, in the Mogadishu district of Hodan, a local non-governmental organization called the Somali Relief and Rehabilitation Development Organization runs a wet feeding centre, where vulnerable children and the elderly receive free food.
The number of people seeking meals at the centre has increased substantially in the last few months, as demonstrated by the long queues of hungry children and old people forming outside the facility in search of food.
On Tuesday, Antonio Guterres visited Somalia in his first foreign trip as UN Secretary-General to assess the humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa country. Severe drought has driven away thousands of people from their villages and communities in pursuit of food and water in urban areas.
The Secretary-General made a plea for increased support from the international community to mitigate the effects of the drought, which many fear will degenerate into full-blown famine if swift and effect intervention is not carried out.
